Get back on the wagon, sistah. Maybe your bad sleep night was because of that gummy worm, did you ever think of that, huh? Just teasing you. Nothing worse than a bad night. Oh yes there is - a bad night with hellacious hot flashes. Get some rest, sweetie. We love ya!

Ilene- Sorry to hear about your Aunt, and that, um, meal. Hope your mom's doing OK. I hope you're curled up in bed already and have a good night! I had what felt like a restless one, but it was only because we forgot to throw the cat out of the bed, and by 4am, she had the lion's share.

JC- There's no way I can get up to exercise in the wee hours, either. I tried it once when I couldn't sleep and figured I might as well just go to the gym. I stumbled all over, walked into things, and have the scars to prove it. In the summer, I can manage cardio by about 6:30, but before that I'm just a zombie. I'm lucky that I've either run my own business and been able to take mid-afternoon gym breaks, worked part-time, or now work at the gym. So now my workout time is whenever I'm not working someone else. Usually mid-afternoon. The gym is generally empty which is bad if ya need a spot, but no competition for equipment.

Jen- I do cardio 5 times a week- but never on leg day. Usually only 30-40 minutes.

Mel

__________________
Falling down is not failure....Failure is staying down.Save the Earth, it's the only planet with chocolate and wine.

It isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Thanks Girls!! You're all the best!! You know I never even considered that it was the stress from the death of my aunt!! What I think is stressing me is that it's stressing my Mom...She pretends to be a tough cookie but she's not... I do feel better about it all I had a good supper and a chocolate pp shake for my sweet tooth that all these carbs have kicked in!! BTW nothin' worse that burpin' baloney all afternoon... EwwEwwEww....

Robin -- In my obvious state I forgot to congratulate you on getting in there and doin' your cardio WAY TO GO!!

Mel -- I think "2" cats on the bed could be the reason for my restless night!!

Well I'm off to lala land myself...

Later all...

__________________I l e n e
Falling down is not failure....Failure is staying down.

Leg day today. All "christmas gain" is official banished as of this morning! buh-bye! Im back down to my lowest from November! woot! hehe Food has been clean.

Found a new way to avoid snacking when hungry before bed (and already eaten meals). 2tbsp crushed flax in a glass of water. its enough fiber to keep my tummy busy until the next morning. no extra carb for me!

Its werid, i was watching Dr. Phil the other day (i get so frustrated when you stateside peeps talk about the daily shows.. we are getting stuff from last may!) and he said something that really made sense. You dont break habits, you replace one habit with another one (bad for good etc). This is exactly how its going for myself and food at the moment. Im replacing starchy carbs with extra veggies and protien and I find im not craving them! Instead of being "noooo i wont eat that even tho I want to" I try to think "Ok, the body wants something... but what would be the best choice?" Ive kept my portions within limits and increased my protien so that I ALWAYS get in the grams I need. Palm/fist was a great way to start, but I like being able to make sure that over the day Im not missing out anything, plus it makes it easier for me to see how much a "portion" should be.

Went shopping at LUSH yesterday (mmmm) and spent a little money pampering myself. Got a deep cleansing facial mask and a "after 8:30" massage bar (chocolate with peppermint oil). Highly recommend their products Got my rowing intervals in, and then did 30mins extra on the bike. Food was clean and tasty

Ilene, sorry to hear about your aunt. I know that I react more strongly to family members being upset than I do when I am upset, so I totally see where it could be your worry for your mom that is stressing you out. Always tough to see people you love in pain. :/

JC- bugggggah.... (fake aus accent) on the EFL book.... might have to get my mom to ship it??? I will check it out!! You guys are making me droooooool! I had a tired spell about a year ago, had all my blood work done, only thing they found was a slightly off result for liver function? 2 months later the tests were normal, very weird.

Lanaii - sorry to hear about your aunt.... and how the carbs made you feel too! 2 cats on the bed?? I have that problem too!

Tidey - OMG... I read that same concept in Dr Phil's book.... had the lightbulb moment last night . I LOVE Lush... they are down the street from work and it is so hard to avoid that place.... now I will be thinking of that place all day tomorrow as I have a meeting not even 3 doors down the street!!

Dip - woohooo on the loss!! You are the amazing shrinking woman!!

Early morning exercise?? I am a huge fan of it! Hubby usually makes sure my stuff is in the car ( I get ready for work at the gym = highly organised gym bag) and I actually get out of bed. I HATE our gym in the evenings unless I am doing a class.... it is so packed with 'stupid' people who prance and chat instead of sweating. However, this morning it was HIM that did not get out of bed for the gym, I proudly drove myself. HE went after work and then spent 20 minutes tonight going on and on how awful it was.... I got my motivator back!! I have to do that once in awhile to realise it is not worth the extra 30 mins of sleep.

Not good to hear about the cold weather... my parents are in the major deep freeze this week, something about -30C??? and below!!! YIKES!!! Been mild here, cloudy and rain.... hoping it continues through the southern hemisphere summer, but that is wishful thinking.....

Well... another day down, happy to report yet another on track day... just 2 more to go and week 1 is DOWN in flames!

Hello to everyone I forgot to mention, my batteries are going flat big time and I am off to bed.

Have a great day everyone!
Nola.

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------------------------------ Determined to reach Goal by March 1, 2006
Visit my online journal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/kanola/
------------------------------Measurement devices:Daily - Use the MirrorWeekly- Use the ScalesMonthly - Use the CameraAnnually - Use the Relatives

Had a great sleep last night, food is planned today, gym afterwork at 12:30... arms and shoulders... I'm going to shoot for an hour of cardio for the missed one yesterday... I'm NOT too sure how that will work...You know MOI I'm NOT the cardio !!

Jen -- I do cardio 5 times/week too now... I've only restarted doing it since mid-Dec.

Tidey -- I've also been doing the ground flax thing... I take about .25 cup of milk mix with water, add chocolate PP, with 1/2 tsp cocoa, and 1 tbsp ground flax... I do this when I'm hungry for no reason or when chocolate cravings hit... the Coco really puts a damper on the chocolate craving...

Well lets be careful out there LWL!!

Later all...

__________________I l e n e
Falling down is not failure....Failure is staying down.

Tidey, A big congratulations on saying bye to Christmas gain! That is a true accomplishment and now you are ready to ride off into slender land! I am jealous actually, I'm still fighting off Chrismas lbs. and asking myself what the **** I was thinking! I'm making progress but, dang.....

I was SO hungry yesterday. Really just acheingly hungry. The only thing I can attribute it to is an especially hard lifting day the day before. I ended up eating 7 meals, all clean and two of them were small. I felt very tempted to eat even more but seemed able to retsrain myself from some bad choices by adding the two small snacks.

Robin I keep thinking about Condi and saying if she can get her workouts I can too. And I can, but you know what? I think she must have a better support staff than I do! Considering I don't have one at all. I missed working out yesterday, I had a 14 hour day. Today won't be much better, but I do plan to get my workout in this evening because I don't have to get up early tomorrow.

By the way, I did have a small loss this morning (3/4 lb.) and so that encouraged me, despite the extra food and no workout.

Cat lovers - I am somewhat jealous of all of you. I LOVE cats, but am allergic. I tried a dog, but after 4 months, I gave up and gave it away to save both my sanity and the dog's life.

I did tris and back last night and taught DS how to do push-ups correctly which meant I was also doing them. Cardio was snow-shoveling. My neighbor's walk was already done so I only had to do mine.

Pet-Peeve - My neighbor recently got a dog since she lives alone, but the dog is too big for her to control. While shoveling during the past weeks, I keep finding dog poop in my driveway, yard, walkway, etc. She is allowing her dog to use my FRONT YARD as its bathroom. When I had a dog, I NEVER allowed it to potty in other people's yard and the one time an accident occurred, I immediately got it up with a scooper. My kids play in my yard and if they get poop on them, I will be HIGHLY upset. However, I am unsure of how to approach her. She is old, by herself and like I said, she can't control the dog. Suggestions?

Good morning everyone! Got a ton of snow last night! Woo hoo! Love it! Well I didn't go to the gym yesterday but I did go watch the basketball game so I feel as though I kind of worked out through them...hehehe if only it was that easy!

Ilene-I'm sorry to hear about your aunt.

I love LUSH! I just moved to New York last spring from Dublin and LUSH is one of the things I really miss! Sad that I miss a store but I do...oh well.

Well, hope everyone has a great day! After work it's the gym for me followed by 24 (I taped last nights).

okay, i'm a little slow it's closer to noon. anyways had a great upper body workout today, so good i was almost too sore to get out of bed. but here i am.

wasn't perfect on my eating yesterday, i always do great until about 3 p.m. but working on it again. i'm gonna try eating closer to 2 1/2 hour mark. i've been barely getting my eating in every 3 hours and trying to eat more filling foods. anyways, i'm doing good on the water and i'm thinking todays cardio is going to consist of alot of shoveling snow. school was cancelled so a little outdoor activity might be less stressful.

Tik, I can really sympathize with your neighbor's dog pooping problem. I have 6 poodles and almost 5 acres. My dogs have a fenced area and are not allowed to roam elsewhere. I had a German Shepherd when we first got this property and it is no pleasant chore to be mowing and hitting a pile. Same for snow shoveling. Because my yard is so big and resembles a park, I have neighbors who let their dogs roam, one large, one small. Talking to both neighbors about it was futile. So the big dog gets bottle rockets shot at it. The little dog poops and pees all over my bushes and hedges, and I've lost count on how many I've had to replace. I tolerate the little dog because her owner is an idiot but her (not the dog's) husband is the best. He was out at 4AM this morning snow-blowing our 500' driveway, so how can I complain? Our state has a "leash law" and I bet yours does too. You might suggest she set a chain near the front or back door, where she can easily put the dog on a chain without having to come outside. Or, since you are such a good neighbor, just tell her like it is, as nicely as possible, that you don't want the kiddos dragging poop into your house, and ask her if you can help her with an alternative to just letting the dog out the door. Other than that, like myself, the only other alternative to maintain peace is to put up a fence.

Tidey - Congrats on losing the holiday gain. This was the first time in Lord knows how long I didn't gain, and actually lost. I'm looking forward to next year to see if I can repeat. Now for CandyTime soon upon us, V-Day and Easter. I'm already looking at bathing suits for incentive to leave it alone.

Happy Wednesday everybody. Are we a busy board, or what! I think the cold weather has brought out the best in everyone.

Iím going to be missing in action on Thursday and Friday, because my boardís coming in and I actually have to earn the paycheck they give me. But thinking of my board reminds me that todayís Skinny Daily Post is quite good, especially for any of us who have to sit through long, treat-laden meetings. Take a look: http://skinnydaily.blogspot.com/

Okay, here we go Ö.

~Ilene~ Iím so sorry to hear about your aunt, and the strain your mom is obviously under. Itís bound to take its toll on you, although it sounds like youíve already picked yourself up and moved on. Iíll meet you on the tomorrow morning.

~Jen~ I do cardio almost every day if I can. Itís good for my body, and itís even better for my brain. Iím hooked on those endorphins! And Iím an early riser Ė Iím usually up at 5, and on the treadmill by about 5:15. Not only do I really like the morning, I find that if I donít get it out of the way then, I just donít do it. Iíve just rejoined the university gym, and I plan on in the late afternoon.

~Nola~ or was it ~Ledom~ Oh dear, once again my memory has desserted me You asked about yoga tapes. I love the tapes released by http://www.gaiam.com/retail/gai_searchresults.asp Youíll find a range from beginning to advanced. I also have a Karen Voight yoga tape, but itís pretty advanced. I havenít tried it in quite awhile. I have two sources for reviews: http://www.collagevideo.com and http://www.videofitness.com/ I love yoga, and I love Pilates. Took my first class last night after trying it on my own. Really nice workout.

~Tidey~ Good job on losing that holiday weight! Keep up that great work.

~Dip~ The very mention of a swimsuit Ė when itís 3 degrees outside Ė is almost more than I can bear. I know we have to be ever vigilant, but canít we be vigilant in long underwear. And six poodles. After Airedales, I adore poodles best (especially those standards). What size are yours?

~Ledom~ I hear you about Condi Rice and her staff and her time and her workouts. Oh boy, do I hear you. But sheís a lovely role model, isnít she. Brilliant, strong, determined, athletic Ė everything I want to be when I grow up.